When we talk about last night’s Detroit Pistons vs. Los Angeles game in the future, it will always be remembered as the game Isaiah Stewart snapped and tried to murder LeBron James.
There were plenty of takeaways from the bloody scuffle that saw both LeBron and Beef Stew get ejected and likely suspended.
Of course, that is all anyone is talking about today and the images of a bloodied Stewart going after LeBron are everywhere.
Stewart vs. LeBron is getting all of the headlines and overshadowing several things from last night’s game that were both good and bad for the Pistons.
The Detroit Pistons have blown two games in a row
The real gut punch last night came when the Pistons blew a 17-point lead in the 4th quarter and lost another game they should have won.
They were coming off an embarrassing loss to the Warriors’ bench in which they were out-worked for 3/4 of the game.
After kicking the Lakers’ butts for most of the game, the Pistons absolutely fell apart in the 4th quarter, getting outscored by 20 points and completely going away from the beautiful ball movement that had gotten them wide-open shots all night.
Instead they resorted to Jerami Grant isolations, which were so predictable you could practically see the Anthony Davis blocks before they happened.
It was a disappointing way to end such a hard fought game and I feel like these two losses really changed the outlook of the Pistons’ season and not in a good way.
Can you imagine if the Pistons had closed these games, and were now 6-10 having won two in a row against the Warriors and Lakers? Suddenly the play-in doesn’t seem like such a pipe dream.
Young teams are going to blow games, but one thing that will be lost in all of the Stewart ruckus is that the Pistons should be on a 3-game winning streak and really blew a chance to put a jolt in their season.
Their execution down the stretch was bad, and some of coach Casey’s choices late were odd, specifically having Frank Jackson on the bench for the final play when the Pistons needed a 3-pointer to tie.
I thought Casey did a good job for most of the game and that his new rotations were part of the reason the Pistons had the lead in the first place, but that 4th quarter was not his finest hour.